[Interview] Mr. Brando Baranzelli, an Italian reporter
[Interview] Mr. Brando Baranzelli is known to have followed the journey of two defectors as they made their escape from North Korea in June 2016. I contacted him for an interview and, thankfully, I had an email interview with him.
http://cafe.daum.net/weeklymonday/iSZz
Brando Baranzelli is a 26 year old Italian reporter. He works for an Italian broadcast and directs reports and documentaries for French TV. He is fascinated by all the Eastern cultures and focuses on Asia, always looking for new topics to carry out in the eastern part of the world.
Q1 I was very much impressed with your courage and determination when I watched your report on TV regarding the defection of 2 girls from North Korea. I just know that you are an Italian reporter who covered some defectors from North Korea. Please tell us more about you for our readers.
A1 I was born in Milan, Italy in 1991. When I was 8 my family and I moved to Paris so I spent most of my life living in France. After I graduated I moved back to my homeland, and now I am happy to be here. I speak Italian, French and English. I work as a reporter for both Italian and French TV.
Q2. What did you do with the defectors from North Korea? Can you tell us details about your coverage? Didn’t you feel it was dangerous?
A2 What I did was just following two defectors during their escape, all over China. I pretended to be a tourist, so as not to draw attention on the defectors, and I was using a small camera to make it look like I was taking pictures.
It was stressful but I never felt any particular danger for myself. It was very risky for the girls but I never felt truly in danger, although it was dangerous indeed.
Q3 Why did you do that or how did you decide to cover them? How did you come to have interest in the defectors from North Korea?
A3 At the beginning, I was living with the idea that it was nearly impossible to exit North Korea until I heard about these escapes going through China and South East Asia to make it to Seoul. It was very interesting and unknown, so I felt like doing a report that had never been done before in Europe. The fact is we talk a lot about North Korea but the media never focuses on the defectors issue. I saw this topic as an opportunity to carry out something new.
Q4 How did you feel about the defectors from North Korea while covering them?
A4 Their stories were very touching. Both the girls were sweet and we kind of became friends although we couldn’t communicate. They had never seen a white guy before, which, to me, was quite amazing…
I felt sorry that these people were escaping their own country, leaving their memories and their family behind, knowing that they won’t ever be able to go back there.
Q5 Is there anything you’d like to say to our readers, or to the Korean government or to the international society or to whomever, as a reporter who joined their long journey?
A5 Not really, I think they already know about this issue better than I do.
Q6 Do you have anything you’d like to cover, especially with regard to defectors from North Korea or the North Korean government?
A6 I don't have any particular hate towards North Korea or the North Korean government, I see the conflict between the two Koreas as a bigger dynamic involving greater powers. The problem of the Korean peninsula is that it finds itself between China, Russia and the U.S., a little bit like Germany during the Cold War. It’s not about a good or a bad policy. It’s just the bad positioning that creates this disorder. If I had a message to send I would send it to the greater powers involved in the geopolitics of your tiny peninsula, not to North Korea. Still I am not in the position to give any geopolitical lessons to anyone, I’m just a reporter, not a politician.
Q7 Finally, do you have any messages for our readers?
A7 I sincerely appreciate your interest in my work, and I admire the compassion that you have and the love that you give to the defectors. I really hope that your country will be unified one day so that Korean people could live together in peace under one flag.
19호2018년1월22일(인쇄본).pdf